The title of any web page is an indispensable seo factor for the search engine and the user. The title is one of the elements of the website visible from the outside and therefore indispensable to optimize for two main reasons. To allow users and the search engine to understand without access what the content of the page is. And that of improving and optimizing the CTR from users using the search engine.

Title Tag
The title of a web document is identified in the HTML language by the title tag. In the Google serp, the title is a hyperlink that offers the possibility to access the specific page by clicking on it during the search session. Once clicked, the corresponding web page opens in the browser, which will show the text contained in the title tag at the top of the tab.

Why optimize the title of web pages?
Not optimizing the title of a web page, can lead to several problems such as:

• Receive unnecessary clicks (very important for campaigns in Google Ads)
• Can confuse the search engine and the user
• To not receive enough useful clicks
• Do not differentiate from competitors

Of course, failure to optimize the title leads to other issues, but only these mentioned, can generate lost earnings, increased cost of sponsored campaigns, loss of ranking positions, loss of potential new customers.

How to optimize a Title?
These first 3 points are key factors in optimizing the title of a web page in order to facilitate cataloging, understanding and ranking the web page in semantically relevant Google rankings. And also facilitate user choice during the search session, which can reward us in terms of ranking and monetization.

1.Choosing the keyword focus
The first thing to keep in mind when optimizing a title is that it must represent a web page within the structure of the site. And consequently, since the structure of the site can be made after creating a keyword research, you have to choose the keyword that has the most relevant focus to the content of the page you optimize.

2.Identify content intent
During the keyword research phase, it is good practice to identify the search intent of a keyword by looking at the results Google returns, their content, suggestion and related keywords. Assuming this has been done, as a result we will have content that exposes the topic to the user with a series of topics that respond to a search intent or need. For example in a topic, commercial (how much does it cost) or informational (where to find) topics may be identifiable. By identifying the topics we will have the ability to better explain with the title, both to the user and to the search engine, what the specific topic covered on the page represented by the chosen title tag is.

3.Optimize the title in structure and composition
Once the previous elements are known, a page title can be composed that is representative, communicative and useful to both the search engine and the user and the page itself. So as to create a seo title capable of avoiding unnecessary clicks, attracting useful clicks and avoiding confusing search engine and user, with the benefit of improving CTR and ranking.

There are different schools of thought regarding the structure of a web title, I prefer to use the one that takes into account the prominence and proximity of keywords. Probably the most efficient search engine algorithms, today and increasingly in the future (an example is the BERT update), will be able to understand exactly the content of the page by reading the title, without giving an advantage to those who, like me, use the focus keyword, at the beginning of the title.

An example of how to compose the page title is given by this same page:
“Meta tag title: how and why to optimize the title of web pages”
where we have: [focus keyword + attribute/intent1 + attribute/intent2 + attribute/intent3]

4.Title length
Over the years, the length of the title tag has changed according to Google’s serp needs. There are those who still want to take for certain an amount of characters within which to stay in order to optimize the title on the seo side. I personally to figure out what length a web page title should be:

(a) I observe the serp from mobile and desktop.
(b) I summarize the message with the words that represent the topics.

If in a given Google serp, I notice that the titles of the ads are completely visible, or it lacks at most not too important words to indicate a topic, I am satisfied.

5.Code-side title optimization (title tag).
This is an activity that can be avoided, if you are using cms or have optimized your site in general during construction. Failing that, you should check whether the title tag is present, and whether it is placed in the tag using the following formatting: page title. This check may seem trivial, but in fact, it may happen to detect errors in character encoding, which would be better to eliminate a priori. A good seo consultant, when building the site, also thinks about this.

6.Title optimization for universal research
A web page, is composed yes of text, but also of images, videos and other types of files that allow the user to enjoy the content in any way, with any device.

This is one of the key elements for seo optimization that wants to be broad and cover all vertical search engines. Any content on the page represented by the title i.e., images, videos, audio files, pdfs, offers the possibility of including optimization elements such as the title tag. It is customary among seo, to optimize only the title of the page based on the textual content, at most adding alt text in the images.

This does not allow one to see oneself ranked on the first page in each of Google’s vertical sites, and it forces the client to have to go to seo consultants who have specialized in each of Google’s vertical sites. Therefore, the titles of the different files must also be considered “titles,” and therefore one must proceed to optimize with the same page title, all the titles of the different files with some variance. I recommend variant in relation to the vertical Google site in which you want to excel:

1) Image title
2) title video
3) title pdf
4) title podcast
5) title other file

Optimizing the title in the menu and internal links
Optimizing the title of a web page, should not only be seen in relation to the external navigation of the site, but also internally. In fact, a web page can be “seen, read” and therefore reached, clicked on, navigated by a visitor even internally to the sitoweb from any page indexed by the search engine.

We will explore this concept in more detail in the articles devoted to breadcrumbs to internal links and permalinks. Right now, however, we have to touch on this topic, because in Google’s guidelines, it is clear that the search engine itself considers these “texts about links” on a par with the title of a serp listing. That is, it is the most representative indication of what lies in the page you are going to click on.

For this reason, even with regard to elements such as main and secondary menus, and internal links, according to Google’s guidelines one must optimize the title of such elements as follows:

1) Page titles should be descriptive and concise.
2) Avoid the use of excessive keywords.
3) Avoid vague descriptions such as “Home”
4) Avoid repeated or standard titles.
5) Include brands in titles.

It follows that for Google, it is not correct, for example, to insert in the breadcrumbs or menu, parades of keywords that go to create a title that is not precise and recognizable.

In the jobs I optimize in fact, I always tend to name the texts of the menu links or breadcrumbs as the chosen permalink. Consequently, the seo category, will be called seo, and NOT seo optimization: tips on how to optimize title description to be first and unique on Google.”